Nitish flayed for delayed decision on setting up ATS in Bihar

Patna: The BJP on Friday criticised Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for delaying in the formation of the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and alleged that the serial blasts in the city and Bodh Gaya would have been averted had the state government formed the unit much earlier.

The government has delayed the formation of an ATS unit in the state by more than four years for unexplained reasons after the Centre had asked all states to set up units soon after the terror attack in Mumbai in 2008, former deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said in a statement.

Even the state Police had submitted a proposal to its government in this regard in 2008, but the Chief Minister sat on the same for all these years before rising from slumber soon after the Bodh Gaya serial blasts and got cabinet`s nod for the anti-terror unit in Bihar in July this year, Modi alleged.

The serial blasts in the city came as another wake up to the state government which has belatedly formed the ATS and made senior IPS officer Paresh Saxena as the Inspector General of Police (IG) of the anti-terror unit in Bihar, Modi said.

Apparently questioning on the JD(U) government`s intention to make the ATS a fully functional unit by filling up its 344 posts of police officers in various ranks, he asked whether the state government was awaiting for a third blast to make the appointments against these posts.

The senior BJP leader claimed that the Bodh Gaya and Patna serial blasts would have been averted had the ATS come into force earlier and lodged cases against the Indian Mujahideen (IM) founder Yasin Bhatwal and his associates, including Tehsin Akhar for spreading terror network in Darbhanga and Madhubani district.